


What’s Left Of You

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Artist Keith (Voltron), Asphyxiation, Catatonic Lance (Voltron), Execution, Fake Science, Hanging, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, M/M, Murder, Mute Lance (Voltron), Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Painter Shiro (Voltron), Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Public Humiliation, Resurrection, Temporary Character Death, There Are No Therapists, Tutor Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 13:01:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22456594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It was hard not to be on edge after murder became legal. Keith always knew he’d be somebody’s target and the regulations wouldn’t protect him.But he let his guard down because when he needed a tutor he didn’t expect to fall in love with the guy, and he didn’t expect to ever see Lance again, and he didn’t expect to be involved with the Holts.Most of all he didn’t expect Shiro to be the one to kill him.
Relationships: Keith & Lance & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	What’s Left Of You

**Author's Note:**

> hi ao3. this one’s a little strange. it gets more freaky in the second chapter.

Keith had a philosophy of never trusting anyone, especially since people were now able to qualify for permission to commit one murder up to three times a year.

But Shiro was a really nice guy. He would gladly tutor Keith in between classes and was the first person to see any potential in him. Keith hardly had such a bad temper anymore because of him.

Plus Shiro was hot. He was buff and tall.

Keith realized that he didn’t really know that much about the man besides him being kind and attractive. It came up in a couple conversations that he took care of a guy with special needs that apparently lived with him.

Oh yeah. And he knew the Holts.

Matt and Katie were trouble. They were geniuses but had a few run ins with the law over some frankly creepy stuff. Rumors said that they experimented on human beings, created super-drugs, hacked into the country’s secure data bases, all kinds of nonsense.

But the justice system was corrupt as hell nowadays, especially if you were loaded. That giant residence they shared surely cost a pretty penny. Who knows what actually happened over the years.

So Shiro was good friends with Matt Holt. Matt just happened to go to the same university as Keith and Shiro. Keith had no idea what someone as advanced as Matt was doing there but Shiro said that Matt “had his reasons.”

“Hi Keith. Don’t mind me, just cleaning up around here” said Shiro as he went through files in a cabinet.

“Do you always volunteer on Thursdays?” asked Keith. He closed the classroom door behind him.

“Usually.”

“Uh, have you seen a red notebook with a lightning bolt on it? I think I left it in here…” said Keith.

Shiro pointed at the back of the room without looking up from his cabinet drawer. Keith turned around and gasped.

“Woah! I didn’t see you there. I thought me and Shiro were the only ones in here.”

“Oh, sorry Keith. He wanted some fresh air so he tagged along with me today” said Shiro.

The young man sat at a table in the back with his hands in his lap staring at Keith’s notebook. The book was opened to a page with a realistic drawing of a lioness on it.

The guy looked familiar.

“…Lance?” asked Keith.

Lance’s head rose slowly. Shiro’s back went stiff.

“You know Lance?” asked Shiro.

“We went to high school together for a year” replied Keith.

Yes, Lance was the cocky boy that Keith had physics class with who was always trying to beat Keith at everything. He was also sweet deep down and Keith wanted to ask him out one day. But he never could because Lance went missing before senior year.

“Not gonna lie, I thought you got killed, man” said Keith.

Lance was quiet and looked in Keith’s general direction. He looked terrible. He was all pale with purple rings under his empty-looking eyes. He was skinny and wore a sweater with a turtle neck even though it was a warm day.

“He’s catatonic. He won’t talk to you” said Shiro casually. 

“What?” said Keith. He didn’t know which speak to. He chose Shiro.

“Can he hear me?”

“Yeah, but don’t expect him to interact with you very much.”

Keith went to the table and realized that Lance was looking in his book. Keith felt embarrassed and, even though he didn’t do it, wanted to pull the book away.

“That’s my private journal” said Keith. 

“Sorry again. I opened it. Those drawings are really good!” said Shiro.

“You really think so?” asked Keith. He tried not to sound too eager.

“Of course. You know I paint abstracts but could never get the hang of sketching in pencil.”

“You’re an artist?” said Keith in a shocked tone.

“I suppose. But it’s just a hobby. I only paint” said Shiro. He smiled at Keith.

“I’d love to see your work” said Keith.

Shiro scratched his chin.

“Maybe I can show you next week. We needed to practice math, right? You come to my place if you want” said Shiro.

“Sure!” said Keith.

“Great. It’s been a while since anyone but Matt came over right, Lance?” said Shiro.

Lance stayed silent and kept looking at the lion drawing.

The next week Shiro gave Keith a ride to his house. They tried to get some studying done but were very distracted by Shiro’s paintings and Keith’s drawings.

“Here’s one of the planet Neptune” said Keith. 

“It’s beautiful. I don’t know how you make them so realistic without tracing them” said Shiro.

“Thanks. I do use references” explained Keith. He thought about something.

“Lance, weren’t you interested in outer space when we were in high school?” asked Keith. 

“Hmm, were you now?” said Shiro. “Why don’t you take a look? It’s impressive.”

Shiro and Keith were sitting on the floor next to the sofa with art scattered around. Shiro held up the planet drawing to Lance who was sitting on the sofa.

Lance slowly turned his head and looked at it. His emotionless face didn’t tell anyone what he was thinking.

Keith wanted to see Shiro’s paintings. There were some stacked on the dining room floor. The college students went and sat at the dining table to look at them.

They were essentially a bunch of colors swirled around that were only sometimes shaped like blurry people or objects. Keith didn’t understand it but found it enjoyable to look at. Half of them were all sorts of different colors but the other half were paintings that were just different shades of red. Those ones were kind of unsettling, but since red was Keith’s favorite color he liked them anyway.

“Some of these I helped Lance paint with me” said Shiro.

“Oh. Which ones?” asked Keith. He was surprised.

Shiro ignored the red ones and pointed to one that was mostly blue with a little bit of yellow at the top.

“It looks like the sun in the sky” said Keith.

“That’s what I said” said Shiro.

They looked at more until they ran out of new ones. Keith was disappointed and Shiro started laughing and told him that he had more in storage that he could get out. Shiro started to go down the stairs to the basement door.

Keith stayed sitting at the dining table until he heard something strange.

Lance started gasping for breath. Keith ran over to him.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” asked Keith. Lance kept breathing way too fast. Keith panicked.

“Shiro! Help!”

Shiro came back up the stairs. He sat on the sofa and started rubbing circles on Lance’s back.

“Oh Lance…” said Shiro. “It’s gonna be okay, buddy.” Shiro explained it to Keith. “He has fits like this sometimes. He’ll be okay.”

Keith stood there awkwardly while Shiro told Lance that nothing bad was going to happen. _Does Lance really think something bad’s going to happen?_ Keith thought. Was it something Keith or Shiro did?

Lance went limp and fell off of the sofa. Shiro caught him and layed him back on it. He looked dead.

“Should I call 911?” asked Keith.

“No!” said Shiro. He said it a little too fast. It made Keith nervous.

“When he gets like this if I try to tell him to calm down or get him to breathe normally he just gets worse. So we just ride it out but he usually ends up fainting.”

Keith shook his head sadly. “Sorry, man.”

“You don’t have to apologize. You didn’t do anything. Why don’t we call it a day?”

Keith agreed.

Despite Keith’s first trip to Shiro and Lance’s house not going too well at the end they kept meeting up after that. After all Shiro still wanted to tutor Keith. Keith would also take any opportunity to spend time with Shiro because he really felt more than just shallow attraction to him.

They didn’t always go to Shiro’s house. Shiro loved a small coffee shop that his friend Allura owned and worked at. Sometimes Lance would come with them but usually it was only Shiro and Keith. 

“Are you alright, Allura?” asked Shiro. Keith didn’t know Allura well but even he could see that she didn’t look good.

“No, I… I’m not really. It’s my cousin Romelle” said Allura.

“Is she…?” 

Keith wasn’t sure what exactly Shiro was asking but Allura nodded yes.

“She was murdered” said Allura.

“I’m sorry for your loss” said Keith.

Allura started to cry. “Even though we knew it was coming it doesn’t make it any easier”.

Keith understood. There were a number of ways people could find out that someone was after them and not be able to stop it. Not only that but sometimes a victim would just know that they were about to die even if they had no proof.

 _Like me_ thought Keith bitterly. He’d known for quite a while that he was going to be killed. He’d known longer than most people did before it would happen. It must be any day now. He didn’t like to think about it after he tried and failed at investigating why he had this dark feeling. And sometimes he still thought that maybe it wasn’t true.

“If you need anything at all you know I’m here for you” told Shiro to Allura.

Allura tried to smile.“I know. You’ve already done so much.”

The mood was gloomy after that and, besides the actual studying that they came there to do, they didn’t talk much for the rest of the day.

But eventually Keith’s grades started improving and him and Shiro took a day to celebrate. They sat in the park eating ice cream and enjoying the breeze.

“I’m glad all of the studying has payed off so fast. You’re a very quick learner” said Shiro.

Keith loved Shiro’s compliments. “No, you’re the one who taught me everything. You’re a quick teacher.”

Shiro laughed. “Good one, but don’t write yourself off. If you weren’t so smart in the first place the tutoring wouldn’t have done anything.”

Shiro was such a selfless guy. He lived to help people. Keith considered telling him his true feelings about him right there. He knew Shiro was gay too but even though the older student said that there wasn’t anything going on between him and Matt Keith wasn’t sure if that was totally true. And then there was the problem of Keith’s impending death.

Keith ended up chickening out when Shiro accidentally gave him a distraction. He suggested that they go back to Shiro’s house and show each other how they made their art.

At the house Keith saw a young person he didn’t recognize sitting on the sofa scrolling through their phone. Lance sat next to them with headphones on and tapped a finger on his knee.

“Hey, Katie, you holding down the fort?” said Shiro.

“Nothing to report, Captain” said Katie. They got up and fluffed Lance’s hair before leaving. “I have to run. Dad needs help with something. See ya!” They nodded at Keith and Shiro and went out the front door.

“Katie? Katie Holt?” said Keith.

“Yes. You don’t have to worry about the Holts. They’re good people.”

 _No, you’re the good person_ Keith thought. _They’re dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt._

“Do you want to watch me paint?” asked Shiro.

“Yes. Very much.”

“Well, actually, I know I was going to show you my technique, but do you mind if Lance joins me?”

“No problem!”

Shiro lifted the headphones off of Lance’s head and shut the music off. “Do you want to paint with me, Lance?”

Despite the blank expression Lance sprang up. 

“Eager?” said Shiro with a smile. He set up a canvas and easel in the living room with a dining chair. He sat on the hard chair and patted his lap. To Keith’s amusement Lance sat right in Shiro’s lap.

The way they would paint together started with Shiro putting the brush in Lance’s right hand and guiding it to the paint palette in Shiro’s left hand. When he drifted over the color he wanted Lance pressed the brush down into it. Then Shiro moved Lance’s hand over the canvas and meandered across it, Lance pushing down when he wanted the brush to paint over certain areas.

Lance never did anything on his own but when Shiro encouraged him it seemed like there was more to him than meets the eye. Keith couldn’t imagine what happened to him but it probably wasn’t his place to ask. 

Keith took his journal out of his backpack and started drawing what was right in front of him.

When Shiro let go of Lance’s hand he saw what Keith had been doing.

“Are you drawing us?” asked Shiro. 

“No” said Keith. “I _was_ drawing you. Now I’m finished.” He stood up and showed the sketch to Shiro and Lance.

“Wow, Keith, I… would you look at that” said Shiro in awe. Lance’s lip quivered.

It was the first time they’d seen Keith draw in color. Everything looked so lifelike and warm, from Shiro’s gentle smile to Lance’s rare concentrated look. Keith was flattered that he’d left Shiro at a loss for words.

A phone rang.

“Sorry, that’s mine. I should probably take this ” said Shiro. He moved Lance to sit next to Keith on the sofa and went outside to talk on the front porch.

Keith picked up the headphones and turned them on. He wore them. The song was kind of a mixture of different genres. A little pop, electronic, and rock. He took the headphones off again and put them on Lance’s ears.

Shiro was raising his voice outside. Keith had never seen or heard him like that before. He came back into the house tense.

“Are you okay, Shiro?” asked Keith.

Shiro stopped and looked at Keith like he was a ghost.

“Y-yes! Of course. I’m okay. It’s nothing to worry about. Hey, this was a lot of fun. Why don’t you come over again tomorrow night?”

Keith wasn’t convinced that Shiro was okay. And he wanted him to come over again so soon?

“I never got to see you drawing while you were actually doing it. I do have…work…tomorrow but…” Shiro said.

 _Oh, so that’s why he wants me over at night_ thought Keith. There seemed to be trouble in Shiro’s personal life and Keith wanted to take Shiro’s mind off of it. He’d be there.

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

“R-right” said Shiro.


End file.
